


A Single Glance

by spacemonkey



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash, Season/Series 04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:02:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25205920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacemonkey/pseuds/spacemonkey
Summary: When the war begins, so does Castiel.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Kudos: 12





	A Single Glance

**Author's Note:**

> Written in early 2009, revised in 2020. Really, it's pre-Destiel.

When the war begins, so does Castiel.   
  
He is chosen and does not know why, but he follows blindly, as he always has. He leaves Heaven, leaves his home, and follows his orders.  
  
Castiel does not fear Hell. Walking among the lost souls, the screams and the fire, he feels nothing. He looks at the man, another lost soul, blank and covered in human filth, and does not fear him—Dean, his mind insists, Dean Winchester, son of John and Mary, brother to Samuel, and the reason Castiel has journeyed. It is not the weapon in Dean's hand that Castiel fears either, but his own touch.

He is frightened to touch Dean, to bear his mark on human skin. Dean is fragile, comprised of bones that could snap with a pressured grasp, and skin that will burn.  
  
Fear is both strange and new to Castiel. It sweeps over him, through his being as if a breeze had followed him downwards.  
  
He reaches out despite his fear, and Dean fights him and loses. His skin burns, but Castiel continues on, his grip tight as Dean screams and thrashes. It is only a soul that Castiel grasps, he reminds himself, even as Dean shows pain, not flesh that will bruise and scar.   
  
The corpse is rotting and Castiel pieces it together until it resembles a body, then he goes further until it is perfection. He places Dean’s soul in between the folds of skin and muscle and bone, and only then does Castiel release his hold on Dean’s shoulder. The skin is angry beneath his clothing but Castiel does not heal it, even though he can and should. He leaves before Dean can awaken, and tells his brothers of his success:   
  
_Dean Winchester is saved_.  
  
 _Speak with him_ , the response comes, and Castiel does so. But when the glass shatters and Dean screams, Castiel stops, puzzled and fearful. Dean is fragile now, and he should not break him.  
  
And so he waits patiently for Dean to strengthen. He is stronger on Earth, and he is perfect. Castiel watches Dean, and finds he seems to have forgotten. For this, Castiel is thankful. He watches Dean find his brother, meet the woman with the dark hair, and Castiel feels pained when she is left sightless. Though he did warn her.

Castiel speaks again once Dean is rested and alone, and does not stop until Dean’s ears start to bleed, because surely the human is special.  
  
He's wrong. Castiel strays, hopeful that he didn’t damage Dean’s body permanently, and searches for another solution.   
  
The man prays for redemption, for guidance, for purpose, and Castiel answers, wearing his skin in a way that is suffocating.  
  
“What is happening?” the man, the vessel asks from within.  
  
“You are safe, my child,” Castiel tells him.  
  
Castiel _lies_ , and it shapes him.  
  
The world stings with its brightness, glaring hues that dance across his vision in white spots and narrowed lashes. The vessel sleeps within, and Castiel waits. He does not have to wait long.  
  
Dean is fragile still, and Castiel wonders if perhaps his touch did break the humans’ soul. He wonders, and he fears, but when he looks in Dean’s eyes, he realizes why this man was the one chosen. In Dean, Castiel sees his own strengths, his weaknesses, and his own completion.

In a single glance, Castiel sees his end, and regret is the one thing he knows he will never feel.


End file.
